ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Follow Up to the Rio+20 In 1992, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development

(UNCED), otherwise known as the Rio Summit, Rio Conference, or the Earth Summit, begun in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where more than 170 members of the United Nations participated along with more than 2,400 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The result of this conference was Agenda 21, which was an agenda for actions for the United Nations (UN), multilateral organizations as well as member nations. This agenda was designed for the world to prepare for the 21st century (hence the name, Agenda 21). Ten years later, in 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), also known as Earth Summit 2002 took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the second round of the Earth Summit, major decisions were reached; including the restoration of the worlds depleted fisheries for 2015. Aside from this agreement, a major declaration was published and agreed by member states.The document was known as the Johannesburg Declaration. In this declaration, a series of issues were outlined including the issue of poverty eradication, loss of biodiversity, and the deep fault line that is dividing the rich and the poor. Within the document was a list of commitments that governments plan to take. In 2012, Rio+20 convened. The conference, formally known as The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20, and Earth Summit 2012 is the third of the three conferences on the issue of sustainable development. These seven main, critical issues are: jobs, energy, cities, food, water, oceans, and disasters. Each of these seven main critical issues linked back to sustainability, such as sustainable energy, sustainable cities, and so on. Today, in 2013, a framework is needed in order to allow all member states to follow and accomplish. This framework should be based on the results from the conference. The main achievement of the conference, seemingly pointless in comparison with past conferences, is to create the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the end of 2013. The SDG topics should encompass all three aspects of sustainable development economic, social and environmental and will seek to accomplish a set of goals by a certain time that will be determined. These goals will act like the goals of the Millennium

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Development Goals (MDGs) that were created in 2000 and to be completed by 2015. Outcomes of the Rio+20 conference were outlined with extensive detail in a document published as The Future We Want, which begins with Our Common Vision and continues on with a list of reaffirmation, goals, and so on. Some major goals include renewing Agenda 21 and to establish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This document is notable for its detail of steps that have to be taken as a follow-up to the conference. Ten years following the 1992 UNCED conference, the WSSD conference convened in Johannesburg, South Africa. Following the conference were two significant outcomes first, the Johannesburg Declaration, and second, the agreement to restore depleted fisheries by 2015. The Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development was based on the agreements made in Stockholm Conference of 1972 and UNCED of 1992 as well as the declarations and agreements established in these conferences. Some of the topics in the Johannesburg Declaration include chronic hunger, malnutrition, chronic hunger, foreign occupation and armed conflicts, xenophobia, illicit drug problems, terrorism, trafficking in persons, natural disasters, etc. One notable detail of this conference is that President Bush boycotted this conference because of his belief that the conference was useless and impotent which is partially true from the unsuccessful declarations created in 1972 and 1992. The United States did not have any contribution to this conference at all. Monetary Issues Sustainable development is a process in which requires all three of its components educational development, economic development, and environmental protection to be taken care of with large amounts of monetary funding, aiding, development and/or care. This is an issue, however, to many LEDCs because of the lack of governmental funds available to spend on such small scales with little guarantee of success. In many ways, development requires large funds in order to pay for new changes to a nation. Protection of natural resources can be hard to many nations as natural resources is one of their source of economic income. An example would be nations in the Middle East in which use fossil fuel or oil as its primary source of income, which is environmentally devastating, but the only source of their

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand economic income in which allows it government to sustain its economy. A big example of green development would be China. With its booming industries, this nation is successfully chiefly because of its industries and extraction of natural resources. If the government spends billions of dollars into developing green energy, the result may not be beneficial to the nation. Not only will the production ability decrease, the nations resource exports will decrease tremendously. On the other hand, if China does not decrease its rate of production, sustainable development will become a major issue as the nations resources come to an end. Lack of international Cooperation Since the Stockholm Conference in 1972, it has been clear that international cooperation is needed in order to achieve these goals however international cooperation has proven to be unsuccessful. International cooperation is a significant portion to success in sustainable development in many ways. In order to prevent over-consumption of natural resources within one nation, international trade and resource extraction is necessary to assist one anothers development. In order to tackle social development and to tackle poverty, MEDCs need to support the LEDCs. Not necessarily through monetary methods, but through assisting in providing successful methods and resources for the LEDCs. After all of the past major conferences however, there has not been significant international cooperation to tackle these issues. The success of the MDGs on the other hand can be seen through strong international cooperation. For instance, the success of the second goal of the MDGs on achieving universal primary education has been successful because the MEDCs have supplied LEDCs with methods to promote education, resource for quality education, and monetary funds to construct educational facilities (schools, research institutions, etc.). Creation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) One of the major decisions reached at the Rio+20 conference was the global attention on sustainable development, and the need for the creation of a set of goals like that of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The SDGs will be created with a broad range of goals to be achieved with consideration that sustainable development is a broad topic. The SDGs will have to encompass the economic and social development issues, as well as any and all methods to protect the

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand current environment. The SDG is considered a method to tackle the issue of international cooperation and the criticism that past declarations established by sustainable development conferences to be impotent. With a clear deadline and a set list of goals, the United Nations and all its members can strive to achieve these goals together. Agenda 21 and its follow-up declarations is a good background for the creation of these goals, as it states a list of issues that should be tackled in the 21st century. Note that these goals should be tackled within the next decades to come before sustainable development and environmental protection becomes an unachievable dream. The World Bank UNDP - UNESCO The World Bank is an international bank in which provides loans to developing nations in order to assist their development and to fight against poverty. Following the Rio+20 event, World Bank has published a series of papers in which discusses the need for green growth, and to move beyond GDP and incorporate natural capital accounting in order to set international SDGs for energy, food, and water so that we can shift to a more sustainable path in the future. Following the conference, the World Bank began its push for green development for all fields in order to protect the environment while developing the other sectors. This is important for World Bank not only offers loans, but also provides plans for the developing nations to use with their money in order to allow these nations become more self-sustainable. With World Banks dedication into a sustainable world, the developing nations are more likely to follow the World Banks lead. The United States of America The United States, a tertiary sector nation, has supported sustainable development since the Stockholm Conference of 1972, however, felt that the conferences, no matter the size were impotent with no major improvements at all. Because of this, President Bush boycotted the WSSD of 2002 in Johannesburg. United States, however, has a great interest in creating a successful set of goals as a follow-up framework for Rio+20. The European Union (EU) Despite recent economic issues, the EU is a great example for the environmental protection sector of the three strands of sustainable development. The EU protects

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand the environment through green initiatives in many ways. This includes large spending on energy sources such as solar power, wind power, and hydropower. As the majority of the EU nations move closer to the tertiary sector, environmental protection is becoming an achievable goal and green structures are also being built. The EU nations are great examples for achieving environmental protection. Evaluation of Previous Attempts Throughout the past, there have been multiple documents created to tackle the issue of sustainable development. The primary examples of these are the Stockholm Declaration, Agenda 21, and the Johannesburg Declaration. All three of these have common issues. First, throughout past attempts to tackle sustainable development, there has been a lack of international cooperation. This is the most important part of a successful sustainable development declaration or goal, for it requires nations to assist one another and thus benefit from each other without extracting more resources from within each nation. In order to achieve social development, MEDCs have to help LEDCs by providing resources, methods, and monetary funds. In order to achieve economic development, nations cannot succeed without the help of globalization with import and export of resources to and from each nation. Environmental protection is also important instead of overconsumption, trading with other nations and/or extraction of limited resources can solve this issue significantly. Detailed declaration has been another issue; there has been a lack of specificity in all three aforementioned declarations and/or Agenda 21. These declarations merely outlined the issues that has to be solved, methods to solve them and how to implement these solutions. None of these declarations, however, outlined a specific deadline for the goals to be achieved or gave any nation incentive to actually work to achieve the goals. Ultimately, following each of the conferences, there has been little to no work done on sustainable development on the global scale compared to what should have been done. Possible Solutions The document created immediately following Rio+20 Future We Want outlines a list of actions that should be taken. Not all of these may be achievable, but many of them are the possible solutions to a truly sustainable development. This document is like Agenda 21, where a

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand list of actions our outlined, however, needs a framework in place to allow these actions to be taken. The document addresses several topics and methods to resolve them. Some of these include poverty eradication and increase in primary education, sustainable energy through green energy methods, food security through subsidizing of sustainable agricultural projects and more. The creation of the SDG is another significant portion of this document. By creating a set of goals, it may offer a solution to the issue by incentivizing countries to follow and complete these goals within a set amount of time. Energy For All Without the appropriate access to energy, many rely on polluting and inefficient sources of energy that cause several forms of chronic illnesses and kill nearly two million people annually. Additionally, without electricity, many households employ women and girls in foraging for fuel, which comes with unnecessary security risks. As of 2011, more than 1.3 billion people worldwide, mostly in developing countries, do not have any access to electricity. Of this, approximately 580 million people alone are in Sub-Saharan Africa and 280 million are in India, according to the International Energy Agencys 2011 World Energy Outlook (WEO). These figures indicate that energy access is indeed a severe issue affecting a large portion of the world population. Because of the pressing degree of electricity access, or lack thereof, this issue has become a large focus of many governments, especially in poorer nations. It has been projected that without international recognition and commitment to improve universal electricity access, the problem, which is most abundant in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, will not only persist but also deepen in the long-run. Given this, many electrification organizations have established systems to monitor more accurately the needs and status of development and electrification in several areas. In addition, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has prioritized the issues of universal energy access and sustainable energy. In his Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SE4ALL), one of the objectives to be met by 2030 is ensuring universal access to modern energy services, namely electricity. In addition, 2012 was declared as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand

Ensuring Electricity Provision is Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly By ensuring universal electricity access, it is assumed that the electrification rate will increase greatly, especially by 2030. Doing so will result in higher global energy demands as well as greater carbon dioxide emissions which may lead to climate change. The IEAs WEO concluded that achieving universal electricity access by 2030 would result in about a mere 2% increase in global emissions due to the fact that the 1.3 billion people without electricity are those living in least developed countries (LDCs) and thus, will use less electricity than those in developed countries. It is notable to know that the energy use of the habitants of New York City alone is equivalent to all of those living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this small projected increase in emissions, it is important to realize that the true establishment of electricity in households may not be identical to what is planned and this will steer the global emission increase away from the ideal. Furthermore, the population without access to electricity is not static. The population will increase and the population without electricity will increase as well and so the projected figures may not be entirely accurate. Thus, this issue must also be tackled properly or the gain in one area will become a lost in another. Financing According to the IEA, as of 2011, a total investment of approximately $1 trillion will be required to achieve the goal of universal access to modern energy (electricity and clean cooking facilities) by 2030, which is approximately $49 each year until 2030. In addition, $602 billion more will be needed for investment to provide universal access to electricity alone, with 64% of this budget required in Sub- Saharan Africa. There are many possible methods of providing access to electricity, some requiring more money although it may be more sustainable and less harmful to the environment. Different methods of financing as well as many mechanism roles used will be different according to the needs and characteristics of each country. Many countries using inappropriate mechanisms face a more difficult time trying to provide electricity access to unconnected households. Subsidizing Costs for Electrification

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Often times, subsidies are required to cover part of the capital and/or operating costs for electrification because a large proportion of the unconnected households cannot afford to pay fully the cost of electricity services. The means through which subsidies become available vary from country to country and must be managed specifically for each country, and this may pose as an issue for countries without experience with electrification of unconnected households. Financing within Low-Income Countries with Low Electrification Rates It is particularly more challenging for low-income countries with low electrification rates to expand electricity access within the country. Once a country reaches a medium level of electrification and a certain income level, universal electricity access becomes fairly easier due to the fact that there is an increasing mass of taxpayers as well as electricity consumers who are able to provide the funds needed to allow for more sustainable electrification. In low-income countries with low electrification rates, available resources and the number of consumers and taxpayers capable of contributing to subsidies are more limited. In addition to this, poorly performing utilities and regressive pricing policies often aggravate this issue further. Financing from and Cooperation Among Relevant Parties For some net oil-importing developing countries, the rising and volatile prices have posed as a larger challenge for expanding electricity access as well as energy access in general and also become an extra burden on fiscal budgets. As seen, the financial requirements may be beyond the capabilities of the nations in need alone thus the financial burden falls upon other nations as well as relevant organizations. In order to be able to finance the expansion of electricity access in developing countries, more cooperation among as well as funding from many sectors is essential for the goal to be met. Without enough financing as well as cooperation within donors, the progress of universal electrification is deterred. Inefficiencies of Implementation There are certain concerns when it comes to the implementation of electricity into developing countries. First, it may prove to be difficult to ensure lasting and dependable access to electricity with adequate capacity of production, transmission and distribution. As previously mentioned also, there are different methods and models for providing electricity access and this may

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand play a role in making the provision inefficient and not cost-effective. These problems are further intensified with the fact that different countries have different needs and uses of electricity and thus there is no single specific institutional model for electrification. There are several successful cases based on different types of models (i.e. public, private, cooperative, etc.), and the implemented model used to electrify a nation should be based on the countries individual strengths as well as the problems being faced. Countries to be electrified must take into account how to make use of limited resources in the most efficient and cost-effective manner, keeping in mind all the aforementioned issues as well. Many nations are still lacking in this matter and thus the effective and successful increase in electrification in developing countries is impeded and not as successful as should be. Management of Implementation As mentioned, it is important to ensure that the model in use for implementation is appropriate for each country. It is also equally crucial for the management of the electrification to have a strong leadership. Certain leadership groups, either agencies, utilities, or governments, may not possess efficient administration, technical capacities to support contractors and providers, organization, proper communication, and a comprehensive understanding of the issues relevant to each area or country. Because of such inadequacy, the management of electrification is not entirely proficient and thus, reduces the electrification rate that is in fact possible. In addition, a sustained commitment from the government to supporting electrification is important for successful electrification of unconnected households. However, this commitment is a long-term one, lasting at least 15 to 20 years. Several developing countries with political turmoil and constant change in conflicted governing bodies face an issue with this commitment issue, as the coherence of policies may not be present. Good communication as well as continuous support is needed in the long-term and so it is evident why the progress of electrification rate increase is not as pronounced. Monitoring Progress Monitoring progress of connecting the unconnected proves to be an issue especially in isolated communities

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand that are hard to reach. Due to the large number of households in developing countries without access to electricity, monitoring alone the electrification level and rate is a difficult task. This is because the large number of people makes it hard to track completely. It also has to be acknowledged that governments of these countries, especially of LEDCs, tend to have other issues to tackle therefore deprioritizing monitoring the progress of electrifying households, especially in far rural areas that may also be so isolated that communication is nearly impossible. Even with monitoring, the results shown may not reflect the true state of electrification. Monitoring entails not only the electrification level and rate, but also the quality of service. In some public-private partnerships (PPPs), corruption may be possible and the reported figures may not be an accurate representation of electricity access. Proper monitoring requires not only proper investment into accurate monitoring but also a proper incentive system that promotes integrity. Other Key Issues There are certainly many other key issues that stand in the way of successfully providing electricity to households. High cost of supplying electricity is one and has been addressed. In addition to this, the lack of appropriate incentives that attractive investment in rural electrification hinders progress. Weak implementing capacity, electricity generation shortage, as well as population growth that may not be accounted for by estimated figures also pose as barriers to electrification. The World Bank - UN The World Bank as well as the World Bank Group are in support of achieving universal electricity access and subsequently have funded and supported several projects worldwide that work towards this goal. In addition to its role in evaluating and estimating the costs needed for global electrification by 2030, it has also worked in partnerships with certain countries to help achieve this goal. For example, the World Bank has partnered with Australia to work with the government of Tonga as well as worked with Ethiopia and Bolivia to improve its prospects as well. In addition to its Lighting Africa initiative, the World Bank as part of the World Bank Group is launching a global program to help countries achieve this goal as

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand part of its support for the SE4ALL initiative. The World Banks Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) has given initial funding of $15 million to the SE4ALL Technical Assistance Program (S-TAP), which will begin in five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa including Burundi, Guinea, Liberia, Mozambique, and Senegal. The World Bank plans to expand the number of countries and reach 20 countries with electricity access by 2030. Peoples Republic of China China has been active in financing universal electricity access initiative efforts. In addition to increasing its domestic electrification rate (one of the largest in Asia), it has also provided funds and loans to other unlit countries, especially in Africa. In addition to its previous financing for Africa, Chinas president Xi Jinping renewed an offer for a $20 billion in loans to help African nations. In addition, private sectors from China have also played a role in electrifying unconnected countries. Certain companies have signed deals with certain African countries to build power plants to help improve electrification levels. European Union (EU) The European Union, although consists of developed countries, has pledged its commitment to the UN SE4ALL Initiative to help increase access to electricity during the EU SE4ALL Summit. It has pledged, in 2012, to finance electricity access to 500 million people or approximately 38% of the worlds population without electricity by 2030. Germany Germany itself at the same summit has confirmed that the nation will individually commit to increase their overseas funding. It has pledged a 500 million euro pledge and will aid in supporting developing countries governments work to increase electricity access to 100 million people. Other MEDCs Several countries such as the United States and Japan have pledged large amounts of money to help improve the quality of life in African nations, specifically in terms of electricity access. Many things have been done including loans, working to develop legal framework that will ensure sustainable development, as well as construction of renewable energy sources such as wind farms which in turn produce electricity. Smaller projects and products have been created that can be used to help

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand increase access to electricity on a smaller-scale, such as the Soccket Ball designed by students at Harvard University. Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue No project pertaining to increasing the number of households with access to electricity has been complete yet. However there are several ongoing initiatives and projects that have already provided substantial results to evaluate. The improvement of electricity access in Vietnam can be observed and evaluated as it shows how low-income countries can in fact overcome difficulties and succeed in increasing the number of households with electricity. Local communities participated and helped in improving the design of rural electrification programs in Vietnam. In addition, evidence showed that there was long-term government commitment in increasing figures of electrification levels in Vietnam. Vietnam also made use of its strong public utility as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for maintenance and service provision in rural areas. Within 15 years, the electrification level in rural areas increased from 15 to 95% with the aid of three World Bank projects as well as the recently approved Rural Distribution Project. Moreover, Vietnam has adopted a long-term national plan implemented in phases to contribute to its success. Overall, it can be seen that good cooperation between different sectors as well as effective planning relevant to the domestic characteristics yield successful results in providing access to electricity. Another relevant project supported by the World Bank is the Accelerated Electricity Access (Rural) Expansion Project for Ethiopia. The objectives were to establish a sustainable program for expanding access to electricity in rural areas and as a result mitigating poverty. The project ended in late 2012 and yielded satisfactory results. Out of the 382 towns in their goal, 244 towns showed good progress. Within approximately 6 years after the initial phase of the project (May 2006), 24,000 household electricity connections were made (April 2012). However, the target set had been 182,000 household connections and was to be completed about seven months (December 2012) after the 24,000 household reading. Although successful, it can be seen that the project did not meet its goals. This may have been because unplanned events that impeded the installation of electrification systems or because of poor management and cooperation

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand between those involved. This project is one of many that brought the number of unconnected households down although it did not reach its ideal goal. It can be seen from the above examples that it is indeed possible to improve the number of households with electricity. However, the level of success varies with the proper planning, managing, and executing and thus should be taken into account when modeling for a new initiative. Possible Solutions There are several possible solutions to maximize the number of households with access to electricity. Possible solutions include improving upon pre-existing initiatives as well as ensuring effective planning before the execution of new projects. There are several important factors to be noted and focused on in these projects. Better communication with the local communities should be encouraged in order to raise cooperation levels as well as knowledge that will help in the maintenance of electrical systems. It is also important to improve commitment from the government so that the implementation of such projects is smooth and as effective as possible. Importantly, because each country has different resources, needs, and characteristics, a well-structured survey and monitoring system should be completed to ensure that the framework, scheme, or approach being implemented for the country is most appropriate and applicable and is working well. The needs and the location of unconnected locations should be taken into account to ensure the most cost-effective way to increase access. For example, extending electricity distribution grids is usually the cheapest and most effective. However, in areas far from existing grids, off-grid options become more justifiable. Also, in the case of inefficient operation, these monitoring systems will be good informants of issues that need to be tackled and whether or not it is appropriate to modify the electrification approach. Transparency is also a crucial aspect of this process. This will ensure that the access expansion is being done appropriately and everyone can track the progress. Additionally, when planning new initiatives, it should be noted that the high average access rates in certain regions could mask the low rates in countries in the same area, leaving them disregarded and not helped when compared to others. These discrepancies should be acknowledged and taken into consideration when initiating

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand and organizing projects. It is also appropriate to prioritize certain areas in order to create a balance between efficiency and equality. Countries in the final stages of electrification tend to prioritize poorest regions while those in the early stages tend to focus on areas that are financially viable. This will all depend on the country and what it prioritizes should be the most efficient and cost-effective. There is no single specific correct way and each country will have a specific set of factors to be considered in order for the increase in household electricity increase to be maximized. There are several other solutions to increasing the number of households with access to electricity. One would be to encourage the creation of systems that generate electricity on a smaller-scale so that in the least, households will be able to partially have access to electricity. This could include sponsoring sciencerelated projects and inventions that can generate electricity with lower cost that may be more affordable to some households. In addition, raising awareness about this issue may help increase cooperation and attention on this issue so that the expedition of the projects is faster. This may also lead to more funds being provided to support the SE4ALL Initiative, which has been working towards reaching the goal of universal electricity access by 2030. June 13-22, 2012: The UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio 2012, Rio+20, and Earth Summit 2012 was held. Themes incorporated include universal electrification by 2030. Reports regarding this subject were also released. June 30, 2013: U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $7 billion to the Power Africa Initiative, June 30, 2013 which looks to double access to electricity in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

Achieving Food Security Through Sustainable and Equitable Agricultural Systems The increasing prevalence of malnutrition in some regions is further evidence of the constrained capacity of many developing countries to meet the minimum nutritional requirements of their populations. According to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a 70 per cent increase in agricultural production will be needed

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand by 2050 to keep up with population growth. This will exert enormous pressure on the productive capacity of agricultural systems across the world and will have important consequences for farmers and consumers everywhere. Demand for food rises as populations grow. Types of food consumed change as peoples income increase. In order to meet these demands, farmers seek to produce more crops, livestock, and fish. The productivity of smallholders in poor countries is typically less than it could be. Efforts to increase productivity have led, in some cases, to pressure on natural resources such as water, land, energy, biodiversity, and ecosystem service and to environmental damage, especially in parts of the world with fragile ecosystems. Hence the absolute need for policies that combine sustainable intensification of food production and equitable distribution so that all people have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food at all times. Achieving food security involves an increase in the availability of balanced and nutritious food, through intensified production of food for human use, and reducing waste. It also means ensuring that people have better, sustainable and equitable access to food through decent jobs, increased purchasing power and wellfunctioning local and regional markets. With absence of any one of these factors, food security will not last long and eventually collapse. Agriculture and the Green Economy Strategic Options and Implementation of Sustainable Practices Strategic options for sustainability apply along the length of food value chains. They include changes in agricultural production patterns, integrated management of access to natural resources and rewarding sustainability in food production systems and markets. Implementation of sustainable practices is encouraged through incentives. But such incentives only work if markets and trading systems function fairly and efficiently. They depend on institutional arrangements that protect and enforce property rights and market mechanisms that ensure prices reflect the opportunity costs of environmental damage or resource exploitation. For example, if prices and labels reflect the true cost of unsustainable production, the adoption of sustainable practices will be encouraged. Incentives should only be used if they effectively encourage sustainable strategic choices. Targeted measures supporting peoples access

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand to sustainably produced nutritious food can be implemented as needed. Failure to adopt sustainable agriculture and food system results in failure to guarantee food security to consumers and therefore also harms the producers, ultimately resulting in an endless vicious cycle. In order to establish a sustainable agricultural infrastructure, strategic options and sustainable practices should be implemented. Often times, food security is difficult to achieve because of lack of aid and care on these smallholders. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where the agricultural markets are not as smooth as they are in other developed countries, smallholders role is very important in terms of food availability and sustainability. Yet they are usually being ignored, because of difficulty in access to the smallholders and that it requires a lot of time and effort to reach every single smallholder, which is not cost effective in governmental perspectives. Smallholder Agriculture and Small-Scale Production Systems Importance of Smallholders Smallholder agriculture has a central role to play in increasing agricultural production sustainably and in reducing poverty. Small-scale farmers and enterprises, many of them led by women, produce most of the worlds food and should therefore be at the center of policies on food and nutrition security. Efforts to connect smallholder farmers to markets for example, through food procurement operations in the context of governmental stockholding for food security purposes or for global food assistance contribute to farmer productivity. The well-being of smallholders depends on their maintaining access to natural, financial and technical resources and hence these resources must be fully protected. It is essential that any dealings involving governments, smallholders and large-scale businesses be conducted in the full respect for human rights. Sustainable development of rural communities is also vital in moving towards a Green Economy. Peoples Access Peoples access to the food they need depends on food markets functioning well at local, national, regional and global levels, and on their ability to pay for food. Open markets, together with rules and

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand regulations that foster fair trade and the respect of human rights all contribute to more equitable access. Recourse to trade-distorting support policies and protectionism should be avoided. In light of the existing intergovernmental commitments, humanitarian food purchases should be exempted from export restrictions and extraordinary taxes. Sustainable food value chains from production, through processing, transport and trade, to consumers increase the availability of food, generate income, and help create and maintain decent green jobs. In order to achieve food security through a sustainable agricultural system, not only the producers have to adopt effective methods, but also the consumers should have access to the food market. The problem is, many people including the producers and the consumers do not have adequate access routines to the food markets. There is a lack of effective mediating mechanism that allows smooth transactions between consumers and producers, which seriously harms the food availability and sustainability. Climate Change The recurring climate change and irregular weather patterns have made achieving food security more difficult by requiring more sophisticated region-specific approach and methods to local agricultural industries. This thus results in a more expensive installation of equipment and technologies. Crops have to be selected or modified to produce maximum yields and farmers have to get used to new ways of farming. Climate change makes the development and introduction of drought-resistant African crop varieties ever more important. For instance, FAO is currently helping a number of African countries distribute a new breed of rice, which was specifically designed for Africas often harsh growing conditions and can yield more than three times as much as traditional varieties. However, if agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is to advance beyond subsistence level or reach further than local markets, major investments will be needed in infrastructure. Growing food is not enough; it then has to be moved to national and export markets, and this calls for transport and communications infrastructure and appropriate storage and cold-chain distribution facilities. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information, and helps developing countries and countries in transition modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices, ensuring good nutrition and food security for all. Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates into English as "let there be bread". As of 8 August, 2013, FAO has 194 member states, along with the European Union as a member organization, and the Faroe Islands and Tokelau, which are associate members.

MDG Africa Steering Group Recognizing that the region poses a special problem, the United Nations, in September 2007, launched a new high-level international development initiative, the MDG Africa Steering Group, to help put Africa back on track towards achieving the MDGs. Along with the African Union, FAO will provide leadership in the Steering Group, which includes UN agencies and other major international and regional organizations, on issues relating to agriculture and food security. Efforts to reduce hunger in Africa have been hampered by natural and human-induced disasters, including conflicts and the spread of HIV/AIDS. And while economic growth in a number of African countries has been impressive over the last few years, the evidence is that growth alone, in the absence of specific measures to combat hunger, may leave a large number of people behind, particularly in rural areas. Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) The flagship initiative on hunger reduction of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)is being scaled up to the National Programme for Food Security (NPFS). In over 100 countries worldwide, these programmes promote effective solutions towards the elimination of hunger, undernourishment and poverty. More than $770 million from donors and national governments have been invested in FAO-supported food security programmes, which promote national ownership and local empowerment. Almost half of these programmes are in sub-Saharan Africa, where the

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand highest concentration of malnutrition is to be found and where one in three people suffered from chronic hunger in 2001-2003. The situation is complicated by rapid population growth and, now, by high vulnerability to climate change. Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue Although the concept of food security has emerged in 1943 and since then countries have tried to resolve the issue. There are some achievements made. Improved household food security has been achieved in two ways, through a greater variety of nutritious food produced and consumed by farm families, and through the increase of income from selling farm products promoted by the Project. More and more an income increase may also be the consequence of better marketing and higher prices that farm families get for their products. Resolution A/RES/65/178 on agricultural development and food security, passed in 2010, addresses the food security problems more specifically in African countries, where most basic agricultural infrastructures have not been fully established yet. It calls for actions and supports towards the region, yet does not suggest enough practical solution to the root causes. It is valuable in a sense that it approaches through improving the agricultural sectors. Resolution A/RES/66/220 on agricultural development and food security, passed in 2011, also addresses the agricultural development and food security. It also discusses the African countries. This resolution further extends upon the previous resolution, and calls for development and installation of sustainable agricultural infrastructure. It stresses the importance of all-around approach towards the issue. Resolution A/RES/67/174 on the right to food stresses that all people including those suffering from malnutrition and food insecurity are rightful in their attempts to access of food. In spite of the several resolutions regarding the food security and sustainable development, there are still a lot of people suffering from food insecurity. There are still 870 million people, or one in eight of the people living in the earth are undernourished. Of these people, 852 million are in developing nations. Possible Solutions

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Ending hunger and malnutrition is an essential part of sustainable development. To do so, policies and investments for food and nutrition security should have characteristics such as but not limited to encouraging the production of more food while protecting natural resources and supporting inclusive rural development; reducing waste and losses along the food value chain from producer to consumer; enabling all people to secure yearround access to the varieties of food required for good nutrition, including through stable, open, wellfunctioning markets and food supply systems; ensuring that households and all individuals within them are able to purchase, access and use the food they need through benefiting from adequate productive resources, decent work and job opportunities, well-designed social protection and food assistance programs, with safety nets that protect the food security and productive potential of the most vulnerable and knowledge and understanding on nutrition and care, especially needs in prenatal care and childhood. Comprehensive economic and social analyses, reflecting the full costs and benefits of natural resource use in food value chains, can help governments, farmers, businesses, consumers and others to evaluate options, identify synergies and make better choices. A combination of participatory processes and sound analyses is needed to establish the policies, prices and incentives to encourage sustainable agriculture and food systems. There is no single blueprint for sustainable agriculture and food security, and no one set of policies is globally applicable. Policy choices are best informed through economic analyses that take account of the local environmental and social realities. Implementation should be scaled up in ways that take account of local conditions and national priorities. Strategies for sustainable implementation will vary between landscapes, social contexts, climates and ecosystems. Hence local communities need to participate in identifying and implementing the strategies and to help establish the right incentives. There is no single blueprint for sustainable agriculture and food security, and no one set of policies is globally applicable. Policy choices are best informed through economic analyses that take account of the local environmental and social realities. Implementation should be scaled up in ways that take account of local conditions and national priorities. Strategies for

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand sustainable implementation will vary between landscapes, social contexts, climates and ecosystems. Hence local communities need to participate in identifying and implementing the strategies and to help establish the right incentives.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Promoting MDG 2: Primary Universal Education GOAL 2: ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL PRIMARY EDUCATION GOAL 2.A: Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling Of all the [millennium] goals, educating children particularly girls has the greatest impact on eliminating poverty. Studies show that an extra year of secondary schooling for girls can increase their future wages by 10 to 20%. World Bank Through studies by various organizations, including UNDP, UNESCO and the World Bank, it has been shown that with a basic primary education, future generations are more likely to achieve higher and be more successful in life. With basic literacy and numeracy abilities, children are more likely to begin distinguishing the rights and wrongs in life. UNDP research programs have shown that with a completed compulsory education for a child in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) can assist the children in understanding basic right and wrong, and often times allow children to resist when forced to participate as child soldiers or sex trades. A basic compulsory education allows children to read and learn even after graduating from primary (elementary) school for they can continue to read on their own and develop more logical concepts. The education given in elementary school is primarily to establish a basis for students to continue learning by themselves. The goal of MDG 2 is to allow this to begin in order to assist in the development of education, combat the issues of child soldier, illegal sex trade of young children, and to combat poverty. United Nations has published and stated that enrollment in primary education in developing regions has reached 90% in a major statistical research in late 2011, a significant statistic that shows that this goal is nearly complete. The remaining 10%, approximately 57 million children, however, are still out of school. Major Steps Taken Prior to the creation of the MDG, the idea of promoting education was already stressed as a major step in development, and was often promoted in resolutions. Education is a primary source of development for it promotes the future generations ability to make decision

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand the better the education, the better the next generation will be at making decisions. The major steps taken prior to the creation of the MDGs are primarily initiated by loans given by the World Bank and/or UNDP, where these loans have been issued to developing member states under low interest rates in order to construct schools and begin educational programs. After the establishment of the MDGs, the education goal took a sharp turn positively. Many organizations began to focus on this issue by assisting through donations of funds, resources, facilities, and most importantly time. More than 10,000 schools have been built in Eastern Africa, resulting in a major success. These steps, however, are slowing down ever since the United Nations has published that the goal is achievable, nations have been supporting this issue less. It is still important for all members of the United Nations to continue to assist in aiding this issue until it is fully accomplished. Cost-Efficiency Cost efficiency, or the cost-effectiveness, is the extent in which a nation is able to achieve its purpose with the loans given to the budget allocated to the assistance provided. It is one of the main issues of achieving the MDG 2, for there is a finite amount of money given to each nation in order to assist their construction of schools and to upkeep it. There is a need for cost-efficiency schools to be constructed with maximized quality of education in order to guarantee the success of the childs education. Sanitization School is a place where large amounts of students go through each day, especially in small schools in the underdeveloped regions where more than 50 students may have to be crammed into one small room for each class, causing a sanitation issue. Sanitation issues can include unsanitary toilets, food, equipment and resources. Students who attend the classes may easily be infected by one another. There will be a need to guarantee the sanitation of the school, especially those of the LEDCs in order to prevent major spread of diseases and to further gain the trust of families in these underdeveloped regions. Teachers and/or Faculty

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand The teachers and/or faculty must be able to teach in the local dialect and allow students to establish a basic level of literacy and numeracy abilities and be able to work with large amounts of students. These teachers must be trained in order to establish a strong educational system. In the past, there have been methods to use foreign teachers. However, this has been proven a bad method for the students need to learn to read and write in the local dialect in order to be more successful. Teachers who are not trained properly are inefficient ways to spend the fund. Spending money to train proper teachers will cast a greater effect other than just achieving primary education but to allow the education to be truly useful in combating poverty eradication. Gender Inequality The issue of gender inequality is once again an issue when discussing education, for the majority of the people receiving education is still the male population. Gender equality rooted from past sexism in underdeveloped nations, where societies generally held the belief that the men in the family are in charge, and women only played the role of reproduction. This is, however, wrong in the modern world. Despite gender inequality being less of an issue, there are still regions in which more than 70% of the students enrolled being boys. Females are still a major essence to the development and poverty eradication of any nation. With a basic education, female students with minimum of 5 years of education understand how to deal skills needed in life better, as well as promoting late-marriage and latesexual activity. The World Bank Fight Against Education The World Bank, for the past 50 years, have worked directly with the International Development Association (IDA) to build educational systems. With the help of the IDA, the World Bank has trained more than 3 million additional teachers and built or renovated more than 2 million classrooms. This has allowed more than 105 million children to begin their primary education. Along with the education, the World Bank has also assisted in purchasing and/or distribution hundreds of millions of textbooks. Statistics and Results According to the World Bank, researches have shown that a girl with a 5th grade education is likelier to decrease her chances of AIDS/HIV infection, find employment in

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand life, seek medical care, vote, and gain access to credit. All of these factors can successfully assist in achieving the MDG goals. With the assist of the World Bank, the world was able to have two-thirds (2/3) of developing nations reach gender parity in primary schools. Other than that, the World Bank has directly funded 3 fragile states in which have successfully achieved MDG 2 as of 2009, whereas more are underway. United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) UNICEF is another branch of United Nations in which directly focuses their humanitarian aid towards children. This organization generally provides children with health inspections, food, clothing, shelter, protection, and most importantly education. Methods used by UNICEF UNICEF, throughout the past 40 years, has continuously assisted in building schools throughout under-developed and developing regions. UNICEF published a report in 2008 stating a need for incentives in order to have a higher enrollment rate. Methods taken by UNICEF include positioning the organizations medical checks, food and/or humanitarian aids, and other programs directly in the schools where students are being educated. This method was successful through statistical information provided by UNICEF in their report in 2011. The United Nations Population Fund The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is an international development agency that promotes the right of every living person to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. The UNFPA has directly assisted in tackling the issue of equality between male and female enrolled in education by promoting education for women in sub-Saharan regions with the assistance of UNICEF and UNDP. United Kingdom United Kingdom is one of the nations that fund the most significant amount of money and resources for nations in UNICEF to be directed to South East Asian nations as well as nations in Africa that remain underdeveloped. This nation supports the issue by researching deeply into developing methods to solve this issue. Some of the biggest campaigns led by UNICEF are based on methods developed by United Kingdom such as that of promoting health care within education centers

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand for children, methods for promoting gender equality within classrooms, etc. In 2008, the world suffered from a recession, resulting in significant drops in funding for education and lack of resources supplied to many schools in Sub- Saharan Africa. Large amounts of children were dropping out of school and many did not finish primary education Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue Throughout the past years, there has been hundreds of organizations in which participated to assist in completing this goal. The majority of the organizations assisted by donating money to local governments in which construct schools through the support and monitoring of international organizations. This has been successful for the first few years, by simply constructing a school a large amount of families have decided to allow their children to be educated in school. This is the primary reason why this particular MDG had a sudden boost in percentage completed, and within the first 10 years, approximately 50 million students were put into school. Behind this entire operation of constructing school, many actions were also taken to better satisfy the quality of education of the children. First, the majority of the governments had begun spending a higher percent of its GDP on education, allowing more teachers to be trained properly for teaching. The quality of education has thus increased. The issue, however, is not the teachers at the school teaching, but rather the lack of additional adults at these schools. Prior to 2005, schools were often attacked, causing large amounts of child abduction and increase in child soldiers. This issue has been tackled by 2009, when World Bank has planned out strategized locations and methods to protect the childs safety. The primary problem today is to encourage families to allow their children to come out for education and provide reasons to allow them to entrust their children to the schools that have been constructed. Possible Solutions It has now been 13 years since the establishment of the MDGs, and MDG 2 is far into its path to success. The amount of children who are now enrolled has increased significantly, and is continuing to increase. However, at this rate, the goal will not be completed by 2015. Governments, especially LEDCs, should continue to work

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand directly with organizations such as the IDA, World Bank, UNICEF, and UNDP in order to reach this goal sooner. Some of the actions all developing member states should take is to increase government spending on education programs for children. The money put into educational programs by the government as well as funding organizations such as the World Bank should accomplish a series of necessary goals. First, teachers will be required to teach quality information to the children; these teachers will have to be hired and/or trained. Second, facilities for education must be built in order to allow students to feel like they are having a safe environment when studying. Third, a minority of the money should be invested in promoting education within each nation, methods can differ depending on nations, however, definitely providing incentives. Other allocations of money that should be considered include sanitation and promoting gender equality. The issue of sanitation in underdeveloped regions is vital in the protection of the childrens health. UNICEF has currently assisted many schools in creating a method of sanitization in order to ensure the safety of the children from these hazardous infections. Promotion of gender equality is also vital. In order to create a strong nation, studies show that promotion of women rights can assist significantly. Women who are not educated often result in participating in sexual activities at young ages and having large families in which the families cannot support for. If this issue can be tackled, poverty eradication will be one significant step forward. The promotion of gender equality within these primary education schools is thus important in the following years. Governments should incentivize families to allow children to receive education in order to increase the enrollment rates. Many families choose not to educate their children due to issues of safety and/or money. This, however, should not be a problem because education is the primary step towards building a safer society. Governments should consider offering free education or education at low prices.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Sustainable Development and ICT challenges: Connecting the Unconnected The dramatic advancements and changes in technology and economics of communications allowed for the expansion of communication access as well as a wider ranges of communication services. These changes greatly affected economic and social structures as well as individual behavior. ICTs have been a major driving force of globalization in capital, labor, as well as product markets. Immediate communication also becomes more readily available. In addition, the Internet has transformed the availability of information and drastically changed several traditional structures. In addition, the sustainability framework, set by the Earth Summits of 1992 and 2002, considered three elements of sustainability to be of great importance: economic development, social development, and environmental protection. Without access ICTs, global communication and knowledge exchange are hindered. These issues affect our ability to manage the economic, social, and environmental sides of sustainable development. Thus, it is essential to be able to provide ICTs to those without access because not only will their lives improve in aspects such as basic health case, education, and information access, lifting them up from infopoverty, sustainability issues can be more easily addressed with more involvement from a larger group of people. More importantly, the United Nations has made it a goal, through Target 8F of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to make the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications, available to all. World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) In 2001, the UN General Assembly approved Resolution 56/183, which endorsed the holding of the WSIS to discuss opportunities and challenges in the information society, in response to the UN Millennium Declaration, which targeted implementing ICTs to facilitate achieving the MDGs. The WSIS Research was two of the conferences sponsored by the United Nations with main focuses on information, communication, and information society in general. The two conferences took place in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2003, and in Tunis, Tunisia, in 2005. The WSISs main aim was to connect the gap between the global digital divide, which exists between more economically developed countries (MEDCs) and less economically

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand developed countries (LEDCs), by expanding Internet access in the developing world. With delegates from 175 countries, the Geneva Summit adopted a Declaration of Principles, which essentially was a road map for achieving an accessible information society. A Plan of Action was also developed which set a goal for connecting 50 percent of the worlds population to the online world by 2015. The Tunis Summit also then attracted 1,500 people from international organizations, 6,200 from non- governmental organizations (NGOs), 4,800 from the private sector, as well as 980 from the media. The summit resulted in the Tunis Commitment, the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, and the establishment of the Internet Governance Forum. The Tunis Summit (also known as the second phase) had an objective of putting Genevas Plan of Action into motion as well as finding solutions and reaching agreements in the fields of Internet governance and financing mechanisms. History and Geography Several countries suffer from not being able to connect the unconnected because of their history and geography. History and geography together shape the lifestyle of the people, which in some cases hinders development and ICT implementation. At times, people are so adapted to their lifestyle that they become reluctant in making use of communication technologies. Geography, too, by itself also is a key issue that makes connecting the unconnected a difficult task. In many countries, a large majority of its population lives in the capital city. Beyond that, however, the population density outside of large cities becomes extremely small, making establishing telecommunication systems ineffective and inefficient. Large distances and sparse population make it difficult for such systems to extend. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) dubs these challenges in geography as the tyranny of distance. Mongolia is an excellent example of how history and geography pose as major difficulties of creating access to ICTs. Mongolia is a vast country with 1.6 million square kilometers of area and a population of approximately 2.7 million people. Of these 2.7 people, one million live in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar while the population density outside of Ulaanbaatar is a mere one person per square kilometer. Additionally, more than a third of its population still has nomadic lifestyles

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand and hence any communication between these people is very difficult because of the distances and constant movement involved. Lack of Electricity Access It is evident that the establishment and use of ICTs for the most part will require some sort of access to electricity. However, with more than 1.3 billion people world wide (as of 2011) without any access to electricity, any form of technology may not be added. The lack of consistent and affordable electricity impedes the deployment of ICTs especially in rural areas. With no main power source, or no stable power source for electricity, electricity becomes unreliable and unstable, affecting the rate at which ICT can diffuse to unconnected areas. Electricity concerns also make provision of ICT access rather inefficient and not costeffective. In addition, with the lack of electricity access, being connected to ICTs may not be of any concern at all as many of the people without electricity are essentially faced with the lack of the most basic services such as health care and education. Environmental Challenges There are key issues tied to the environment that are inevitable when trying to increase ICT access. These issues are in interplay with each other and are unavoidable. This is especially because such unconnected areas are in LEDCs and least developed countries (LDCs), and these areas are prone to certain environment conditions that cannot be controlled with the resources already available. There are also other concerns about ICTs themselves that may pose a threat towards the environment. Physical Environmental Challenges The physical environment in most remote areas can be characterized by some sort of combination of heat, dust, and humidity, a combination that is a challenge for most computers and communication technologies. Many of these devices generate large amounts of heat, and if not properly dissipated, their performance deteriorates to a point that they may in fact seem inoperable. Dust also contributes to impeding heat dissipation. It also jeopardizes sensitive electronics by shorting circuits and impeding airflow. Humidity also leads to corrosion, condensation, and the build up of mold. All of these issues cause problems to the lifespan of the equipment. Undoubtedly, this issue makes providing effective access to ICT difficult and not cost-effective, which may be a

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand concern to many investors who may be interested in helping combat the absence of ICTs in developing countries. Effects of ICTs on the Environment With climate change and environmental sustainability becoming a concern of many, one must become aware of the effects ICTs may have on such issues. Implementing some forms of ICTs may prove to be electrically wasteful. Although ICTs can be used to facilitate a more knowledgebased society in order to combat climate and environmental damage, the use of ICTs can also act as a contributor to environmental damage through energy usage, emissions, and pollution from disposal. These matters must also be taken into account when providing ICT access to those without it and thus, as a burgeoning concern, increases the difficulty of doing so.

Financing Challenges Not much is known about the exact costs of providing ICTs to unconnected areas and communities. With the current economy as well as budgetary and resource constraints, a widespread investment in ICTs (in any capacity) is probably not very possible in a large majority of developing countries. Also, investment in certain areas and placing ICT facilities in different locations will lead to different effects. In the past, placing such facilities in unsuitable places may prove to be less cost effective, creating a larger financial burden than should be. Additionally, financing for ICTs may have large costs, both up-front and for maintenance. Governments as well as related sectors tend to rely on different types of financing as well as cost recovery mechanisms such as loans and public-private partnerships (PPPs). The effectiveness of these mechanisms may not have been studied thoroughly in this context and thus, current mechanisms in use or ones that have been used may not have been in the best interest of the population as different communities will have different characteristics and needs and frameworks adapted may not be completely applicable in every case. Other Key Issues There are also several other challenges, such as human resources and institutional obstacles that create issues and difficulties for connecting people to ICTs.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Inexperienced ICT users, a lack of trained technical support, uncoordinated or absent governance mechanisms or inadequate framework, and lack of monitoring are among the many other key challenges. Inexperienced users may create problems for attempting effective use of ICTs, and thus requires technical support and maintenance. However, in rural areas, these people might not be available and thus such support is not present. Without technical support, maintaining functioning ICT devices may be difficult and ineffective and the lifespan of such devices may also risk being shortened. With the absence of governance mechanisms or inadequate implementation framework, programs aimed to connect the unconnected become inefficient as the plans may not be entirely suitable for certain areas and important aspects of the issue may be overlooked, either intentionally because of corruption. The lack of monitoring personnel or facilities also provides space for ineffective practice. Monitoring allows for any inefficiencies, corruption and issues to be properly and immediately tackled. However, without such, problems may be left unsolved for a long time, which, again, contributes to a waste of resources that can be spent on improving access in other areas. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) The ITU is a UN agency that specializes in ICTs and is committed to connecting the world. The ITU consists of over 190 states and 700 companies, academia members and associates, and is an international umbrella that brings together all telecommunication stakeholders. It launched a series of summits called Connect the World Summits in order to grasp the opportunities that ICTs provide in terms of competitiveness and social development. In addition, it has pledged cooperation to facilitate ICT development programs, such as in the Pacific Island region. International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) The challenge of sustainability and its relationship with global economic, social, and technological trends has been one of the IISDs concerns since its formation in 1990. Its Global Connectivity program has also focused for more a long period of time on the impact of ICTs, especially in the Internet, on sustainability and in changing the underlying framework of economic, social, and environmental policy. The IISD is a Canadian-based, international public policy research institute for

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand sustainable development. The IISD promotes the transition toward a more sustainable future with the use of policy research, information exchange, analysis, and advocacy. Such tools can be used to further understand the impact of ICTs on sustainable development, to evaluate progress so that relevant sectors can improve the efficiency of programs geared towards connecting the unconnected.

Pacific Island Nations The stance of several Pacific Island nations on ICT development became more evident after the Pacific ICT Ministerial Forum: Connecting the Unconnected, which was held in 2009 in Tonga. Up to thirteen ICT ministers from different Pacific Island nations, also including two prime ministers, came to a consensus to set priorities and actions in order to spur ICT development with the partnership of the ITU. Together, participating governments called for better cooperation and coordination among partners to minimize any overlap and maximize the impact of ICT development projects and investments. Financial institutions There have been several financial entities that have pledged support for projects and programs driven to improve the ICT access situation as the importance of ICTs becomes increasingly apparent and pertinent to sustainable development. The World Bank has promised to double their aid flows into the ICT sector specifically to $2 billion by the year 2012. Additionally, the African Development Bank as well as the EU amongst many have also made pledges to help increase their role as stakeholders. September 2000: The MDGs were signed and developed out of the Millennium Declaration. Several goals pertain to ICT, such as Target 8F. December 21, 2001: The UN General Assembly passed Resolution 56/183, endorsing the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in two phases. December 10-12, 2003: The Geneva Summit, the first phase of the WSIS, was held. November 16-18, 2005: The Tunis Summit, the of the WSIS, was held and subsequently, May declared World Information Society Day. The Information Society Days main objective is second phase 17th was World to raise

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand global awareness of societal changes brought about by ICTs. Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue In 2002 and 2003, the then UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, challenged the tycoons of Silicon Valley bring more of its remarkable dynamism and innovation to the developing world. He also issued a challenge for them to create computer and communication systems that would allow villages to afford ICT4D. Several of the projects that stemmed from this challenge include computer movements (such as the Simputer movement), the creation of free wireless systems and initiating lab programs for the development of cheap devices that will connect the unconnected (such as the MIT Media Lab). Despite the fact that it seemed that those involved were overoptimistic about what their gadgets could do to improve the situation, change has been seen, however small. Generally, the attempts made in response to Kofi Annans challenge were sufficient on a small scale, and allowed for progress towards connecting the unconnected. There have also been several attempts using the One Laptop per Child (OLPC) program around the world in an attempt to connect more people to the Internet, mostly to improve education. However, it is noteworthy because those who were originally unconnected were allowed to become connected and the improvement in education results may lead to sustainable development. Among the many successful OLPC program worldwide, several were also considered failures. The OLPC program in Peru, for example, failed to meet to live up to its goals. Peru chose to focus its program in isolated, rural areas. This may seem promising, however, areas such as these have virtually no support staff and dont have anyone with experience using computers. Additionally, the funding was centered on costs of hardware and deployment with little to no budget created for improving connectivity or planning. Another notable aspect of improving prospects of connecting the unconnected is seen in the WSIS conferences and their progress. The WSIS has been successful in drawing their Plan of Action as well as their Declaration of Principles. The Geneva Summit, the first phase of the Summit, left the question of Internet governance as well as funding unresolved. However, in the second phase of the Summit, in documents on financial mechanisms, governments acknowledged the insufficiency of financing provided as well as measures taken until then

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand to building an information society as planned. Also, the WSIS conferences were criticized. Governments could not come to an agreement on the principle of a financial effort to overcome the digital divide, which was the purpose of the Summit. Some civil society groups even went so far as to reject the term digital divide. Possible Solutions With regards to possible solutions, the most important issues to tackle are the ones mentioned in the Key Issues section of this report. History and geography are particularly difficult to overcome, however, some kind of mechanism must be developed to prevail over the existing lifestyle of people in different communities and societies. Additionally, the lack of electricity access is also a large issue and must be tackled in tandem with ICT challenges in order to increase the number of people with access to ICTs and improve sustainable development prospects. Any framework and financing system implementation must also be carefully planned prior to execution to ensure maximum efficiency and effectiveness. Different areas have different characteristics and needs and no framework is universally applicable. Installing monitoring mechanisms and systems could ensure maximum efficiency. Doing so will also help track any corruption that hinders the progress of this issue. With this, environment challenges must be kept in mind to maximize cost-effectiveness and minimize any damage done on the environment and the climate. There are several other suggestions that can be expanded upon to improve ICT distribution for sustainability. There is a large and unused potential to save energy if software for energy efficiency are designed. Energy consumption can be systematically lessened and will save costs that can be used to increase the number of people gaining access to ICTs. Programs and competitions that encourage such software development may prove to be useful in this case not only in the context of allowing for the creation of power-saving software, but also in the context of raising awareness of the importance of ICTs in sustainable development. Efforts are also needed to reduce hardware obsolescence and to increase the lifespan of ICT hardware in order to make any installation as efficient and cost-effective as possible. In addition, similar to former Secretary General Kofi Annans challenge to Silicon Valley, challenges for projects and plans to improve access to ICTs may prove to

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand not only raise more awareness, but to initiate innovative plans that may surpass the projects already in place in the present. However, no matter how innovative such plans are, it is always important to consider the maintenance of the ICT facilities being installed. Most of the regions where ICTs are slowly reaching do not have much experience with the hardware, and it is very important to train technical support or maintenance personnel in order to ensure a long lasting system and that the connection being created is stable and reliable. Lastly, there are certain issues that impede the proper implementation of ICTs. For the most part, ICTs can be unfriendly to the environment and may require large financial resources for efficient distribution. It is important to keep in mind the three important aspects of sustainability in the process of granting the unconnected access to ICTs. These aspects include sustainable production, sustainable consumption, and sustainable organization.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Reducing the Number of Deaths Due to Lack of Access to Sanitation One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) established by the United Nations to be achieved by 2015 is to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (Goal 6). A large proportion of such diseases are preventable and caused by lack of access to sanitation. Goal 7 concerning environmental sustainability also aims to halve the proportion of people of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking as well as basic sanitation. In this, the proportion of the urban population with improved sanitation is targeted. Lack of Awareness and Knowledge A large proportion of the population do not realize the benefits, both in health and the economy, that come with sanitation on the individual level, the community level, and the society level. Most people are aware of the fact that sanitation has an effect on health, but do not realize the extent of the damage done on health by the lack of or substandard sanitation. Not aware of its significance, it is often not prioritized by governments, which tend to focus on other pressing issues such as food supply, education, medical coverage, as well as war and conflict. Financial aspects: Cost Recovery, Expenditures, and Financing Several financial issues impede progress in improving the prospects of health due to sanitation quality. Generally, the high cost of improving sanitation is often cited as a burden and an obstacle to implementing sanitation-related projects. On a smaller scale, households do not have the financial resources necessary for investments in water, its treatment, or sanitation. Within some countries with ongoing projects to improve water and sanitation services, underpricing also becomes an issue, as cost recovery is insufficient. This all leads to dependency on foreign aid and insufficient investments. Additionally, the issue of underpricing may be socially unfair for people at different socio-economic levels. The poorest social groups are mostly less connected to such facilities and thus, they need to turn to alternatives and in some cases pay more tariffs. This leads to lower access to such facilities as well as more fees to be paid. In terms of expenditures, only a small portion of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on water supply

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand and sanitation. For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region largely affected by this given issue, only 1.19% of the regional GDP is spent. With this, according to the World Bank, the total expenditures in this case account to less than half of what is necessary in order to achieve the MDGs in the region. Additionally, in many countries, there is a large inconsistency between the expenditures in rural and urban areas. In many cases, money is spent where it is more convenient, not necessarily where the money is most needed. Not realizing its importance, sanitation is not seen as a vote winner for politicians and therefore neglected. Furthermore, a large proportion of financing is internal, rather than external. With this, most of the internal financing stems from household self-finance, which may prove to be problematic in households not capable of providing the financial means for sanitation improvement. Policy and Regulation The responsibility for policies regarding sanitation is often fragmented and divided between several ministries within the national government. Different aspects of sanitation are allocated to different sectors or ministries. With poor communication or poor management of funds, again, the funds used may not be considered cost-effective and the progress of sanitation improvement less successful than anticipated. Also, regulations may not be visibly supported in national policies, reflecting a lack of credible political commitment, making the regulations too weak to cause any substantial changes. With this, the number of preventable deaths will not be decreased as much. However, with effective communication and cooperation between the several involved ministries and sectors, domestic policy and regulation can allow for effective improvement. Institutional Inefficiency Sanitation projects are often neglected due to other political priorities. Because of this, strong leadership from involved governmental institutions is needed. Often, internal conflicts within institutions, the lack of cooperation or consensus, and corruption may deter the progress of such projects. In turn, reducing the number of deaths due to sanitation cannot be achieved at the desired rate. When governmental institutions are inefficient and struggle, the responsibility of managing and improving sanitation often shifts to private entities. Such private entities may not be capable of

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand constructing and operating extensive systems. They may also be prone to placing more emphasis on private financial gains rather than public interests. External Aid and Cooperation Despite the fact that a large amount of monetary aid has been distributed to Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa, external aid such as these may not be particularly helpful. Many donors, both as nations as well as institutions or multi-national organizations, initiate and run projects simultaneously in the same country and so in poorer nations, the presence of many different donors and Western NGOs puts a strain on the coherence of national strategies, as seen in countries such as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia. Foreign aid comes in different forms and levels. Hence, it is inevitable that their approaches and solutions will be different and may not resonate with each other, impeding the full efficiency of the projects. Other Key Challenges There are several other major challenges that pose a threat to improved sanitation access; these difficulties must be overcome. Many projects are being executed without appropriate evaluation. Without proper monitoring and evaluation, the specific needs of the region or area may not be met. For projects with evaluation, on the other hand, there are still key difficulties in evaluating the progress as well as ineffective evaluating techniques. For example, agencies often quantify success in terms of latrines installed rather than the number of latrines still usable in later years. Additionally, these evaluation attempts become futile if not communicated to those involved in decision making, as these evaluations will help improve the project efforts. Evaluations will also show if the project is suitable for the area or not as different communities will have different needs and characteristics, and so certain adjustments may be made. Other main challenges include the difficulty of changing peoples behavior to ensure sanitation and the lack of sustainability within installed facilities. Because sustainability may not be emphasized, sanitation facilities can often become quickly damaged and cannot be used, making the expenditures fruitless. Moreover, without the proper capacity to construct, operate, manage, and maintain sanitation services, the local population will not be able to ensure the sustainability of the equipment.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) The Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) is a multi-donor partnership or trust fund managed by the World Bank with the aim to improve access to clean water as well as proper sanitation for those in need. WSPs strategy focuses on combining community-led total sanitation and social marketing strategies, strengthening the enabling environment to work at scale, improving performance monitoring, and leveraging knowledge to influence policy and action. The WSP works directly with client governments in 25 different countries in many continents around the world. The WSP is dedicated to working specifically on sanitation. WHO, UNICEF, and other United Nations organizations The WHO/UNICEF JMP for Water Supply and Sanitation is an official UN mechanism responsible for monitoring and tracking progress towards the MDGs related to water and sanitation. It monitors the development of sanitation access and facilities all over the world and publishes yearly reports that help inform relevant officials as well as the general population, which can make the process of improvement more efficient. In addition, UNICEF also has its own water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) projects where it promotes framework, provides technical support as well as support for intersector approaches, support for other WASH programs, and support for community management, promotes safe and sustainable supplies/resources, and addresses education provision of WASH in schools. There are many involved organizations, both UN organizations as well as other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are actively engaged in improving the situation of sanitation as well as its related health consequences. African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank The AfDB has been supporting the water and sanitation sector with four investment projects since 1981. The AfDB also co-financed for the World Banks project on water supply and sanitation. The World Bank itself and the AfDB also have been supporting several projects by approving loans and funds. These multi-national financial institutions have played a clearly essential role in allowing for financing and investments that may not be available otherwise. The United States The United States is an advocate for improving sanitation and has continually provided humanitarian aid in several countries worldwide such as Syria, Lebanon,

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Iraq, Jordan, Turkey, countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and much more. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also has a significant role in helping improve sanitation in several countries around the world. Additionally, there are several non-profit organizations or sub-branches based in the United States such as WaterAid America which work towards the goal of improving sanitation in other countries through projects. The Netherlands The Netherlands recognizes the importance of sanitation in health and has been committed to providing assistance in this sector. It has committed a total of 17 water projects in Mozambique alone and has also worked in tandem with the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union (EU) water facility, and the French Development Agency to joint fund for a large water project. It furthermore offers technical assistance to several nations frameworks. The Netherlands is mainly focused on helping least developed countries and almost a third of its budget is allocated specifically for basic water and sanitation, as it places great emphasis on this issue as seen in its policy. July 21, 1981: WaterAid was first established by the UK water industry as a charitable trust in response to the UN International Drinking Water & Sanitation decade (from 1981 to 1990). WaterAid now works in 27 countries globally with local partners to improve sanitation access and services. Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue The Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) in Orangi is a particularly successful attempt to improve sanitation. Orangi was a squatter community and did not quality for government aid because of their unofficial status. As such, the OPP incorporated research into its project and was able to create an affordable sanitation system for sewage treatment. The system was able to reduce the spread of disease and subsequently deaths related to the lack of sanitation. Moreover, the system was sustainable and could be maintained by the local community. The OPP was so successful that it was expanded and adopted by many other communities worldwide, especially in developing countries. This example proves that a plan or project can indeed be successful if it is specifically tailored for the needs and characteristics of a community, as it will tackle the issues that are

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand important to the area, rather than the key issues that are general and may not always apply to the area. Another notable project is the Punjab Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Pakistan. The project was community-based and people from the local community formed community organizations that helped maintain related activities, develop activities, collect tariffs, and manage and monitor schemes and the results of said schemes. Additionally, hygiene education programs were also held in order to inform the local community about proper sanitation and in these programs, latrines were sold to the community and installment payments were also made available. The project proved to be successful as monitoring results showed a decrease of 80% in waterborne diseases and a reduction in health care expenses. In general, the participation of the community and partnerships between various actors proved to be excellent. However, the coordination between government departments as well as political support may not have been the best in addition to the substantially high costs required for the completion of the project. However despite its drawbacks, the project was successful to an extent and the community was able to benefit from the project and the deaths related to the lack of sanitation in the community decreased visibly. The Honduras Water and Sanitation Project executed by UNICEF, in action from 2008 to 2010, was also an attempt to better the situation in sanitation and water. 20% of the project was focused on education and training in water supply and sanitation while 10% was spent on basic sanitation. The projects aims included promoting good hygiene practices, promoting state investment on safe water and sanitation in its population, as well as ensuring the communities have access to sanitation in emergency situations. Results achieved include the training of over 200 Municipal Water Boards in over 40 municipalities as priority areas of intervention in water system maintenance as well as disinfection practices. It was also able to provide sanitation facilities to over 160 schools, equivalent to benefitting approximately 14,500 children. Implementation of alternative low-cost technologies related to water supply and disinfection in poorer and remote areas was also available. In general, it can be seen that the project was successful on a sizable scale. The framework created may not be

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand applicable to all other communities, but it certainly was effective in alleviating the sanitation situation in the targeted areas. Although the aforementioned examples show extremely successful results in improving sanitation and showcase ostensibly that the progress statistics still show that the progress towards the MDGs by 2015 is not on par with the desired timeline. Hence, it is clear that the successful previous attempts still do not account for much of the progress needed, and so it is evident that much more has to be done to tackle this issue to improve the prospects of sanitation and its related deaths. Possible Solutions There is no single universal solution in combatting the issue of reducing deaths due to the lack of sanitation; every community has its own unique circumstances that will produce different schemes and framework. However, there are specific guidelines that should be taken into consideration when planning and initiating projects. Local governments should possess the political will to prioritize sanitation, overlooking the fact that sanitation may be less of an attractive vote winner than other policies. For example, in Bangladesh, sanitation is an integral part of its poverty reduction strategy, which allowed for considerable improvements in the area. Additionally, support from the local government would be a unifying factor that would potentially increase awareness and the cooperation from the local population. Sanitation programs should also be sustainable, as they will support behavior change in that they will exist long enough to allow for adaptation. Additionally, in the long run, sustained programs will cost less than nonsustained programs that will need to be constantly replaced or repaired. Authorities also require some level of sustained financing in order to have a continued sanitation promotion, and so sustainable financing systems hould also be considered. On a smaller scale, financing mechanisms should also be available for households that want to replace, upgrade, or build on to improve their basic sanitation facilities such as latrines. Microfinance institutions could be connected to the local communities and/or subsidy options could be made available to enable households to improve sanitation and in turn improve their life and health prospects. There are also common beliefs that impede fully efficient plans. It is believed that government and donor

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand money is the most important source of finance, however, data shows that most expenditure stems from households and private sectors. Because there are an extremely large number of people without access to sanitation, foreign aid and donor money alone are not enough. What is needed is more triggers and support for household investments. Additionally, contrary to belief, aid flows are not going to where it is needed most and so a solution must be found to ensure that the aid needed arrives in the correct place. Also, even though community management is important, it is also important to provide and develop alternative models such as self-supply and private sector services. There is a need for understanding what rural communities need and this knowledge may not be fully provided to the relevant professionals, therefore it is also important that those involved in such projects gain a comprehensive understanding of the people before executing any action plans. There are many more actions that can be done to improve the situation of the lack of sanitation causing deaths. Other things that can be done are creating a national sanitation team for support especially in rural and remote areas, raising awareness on a larger scale, establishing educational programs to both raise awareness as well as allow the local population manage their sanitation facilities to allow for more sustainable projects, and other solutions of increasing community support, cooperation, and the many key issues mentioned in the Key Issues section of this report.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand Promoting Ecotourism for Poverty Eradication and Environmental Protection Ecotourism is one of the few means of poverty eradication in developing nations because of their lack of social and economic infrastructure making them difficult to develop through other ways. Therefore, ecotourism development is attractive to the pro-poor and the poverty alleviation agenda because tourism is "consumed" in the same place where it is produced, the tourist visiting the destination and buying goods and services there. In addition, tourism is highly labor intensive, employing large numbers of people in different activities, including high percentages of young people and women. It can take place in remote, otherwise peripheral areas that have strong cultural traditions and largely untouched natural environments but few economic options. Tourism is also growing in the developing world, notably in least-developed involves, through tourist spending in tourism destinations, the direct transfer of financial resources from the developed to the developing world. Increase in Potential for Developing Countries in the Asia-Pacific Region Tourism in general is one of the major growing service industries. Because it involves many sectors, from construction to daily commodity suppliers, it can be an important driver of socio-economic changes and progress, especially in developing countries where the economic contribution from tourism is significant. In 2009, the global travel and tourism industry accounted for an estimated 7.9 per cent of global GDP and 8.1 per cent of worldwide employment. The share of emerging and developing economies in this figure grew twice as fast as that of industrialized countries between 1995 and 2007. The significance of tourism industries in least developed countries (LDCs) is even greater for 46 of the 50 LDCs, tourism is the primary source of foreign exchange earnings. In many small island countries, such as the Maldives, one half to two thirds of the GDP derives from tourism. In the Asia-Pacific region, the prospect of growth for tourism is especially high. With a continual growth in international tourist arrivals over the past several years, the region is among the leaders in the global tourism industry. For example, tourists arriving in the region exceeded the 200 million mark in 2010, equaling a 13 per cent increase from 2009 arrivals. In the Asia-Pacific countries, expenditures by

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand inbound tourists rose to US$249 billion in 2010, marking an increase of nearly 22 per cent within a single year. Ecotourism in the Less Economically Developed Country (LEDC) Context The idea of ecotourism stems from the belief that non-industrial societies have a spiritual tie to, and live in harmony with, nature. In other words, ecotourists can learn from the harmonious relationship locals have with the natural environment. This belief has supported the mentality that economically poorer societies embody traditions and belief systems that have much to teach the developed world about the value of natural resources and how to live a sustainable life. However, some of the societies with the least environmental degradation are culturally closer to industrial entrepreneurs. Practices in which some LEDCs participate are perhaps environmentally friendly, but their cultures, and the ways of understanding the world are not necessarily the same. It has not been the goal of most nonindustrial people to live in environmentally benign places, but has been rather incidental consequences of their activities based merely on a lack of technology that may preclude the deterioration of nature and being located relatively isolated from other communities. Therefore the concept of ecotourism is still unfamiliar to some LEDC cultures. Peoples lack of awareness on the issue has also hindered the development of the ecotourism. Ecotourism For All Most tourist researchers argue that it will be difficult to implement Western style small-size ecotourism development in all countries, and even some of them point out that there are probably no countries that can fit the Western ecotourism formula. They assert that countries are all different in social structure and culture. In this concern, they think that it is inevitable to adopt a high volume of tourists to promote ecotourism in LEDCs. Moreover, they point out that most local villagers are not aware of what ecotourism means. Nevertheless, they think that not only local governments and outside entrepreneurs, but also local elites do want to advertise the corresponding local term for ecotourism, to make profits Individual Responsibility Although many countries have tried to introduce and apply different policies and regulations to improve and maximize the efficiency of ecotourism as means of poverty

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand alleviation/eradication, lack of individual responsibility results in unsustainability of the ecotourism industries, therefore making it not effective. According to a survey on the contemporary ecotourism market, there are at least two kinds of eco- tourists: elites and mass scale tourists. Elites refers to the small-scale groups of tourists who have not only certain knowledge of concerning biodiversity, but also have time to go deep into nature for self- reflection. However, the number of the elite eco-tourists is small. Additionally, a survey in the Bita-Lake natural reserve in Yunnan in China for example, showed that the majority of Chinese tourists did not feel any special responsibility for the environment and behaved just like other mass tourists. Corruption Though there has not been any official report of corruption being practiced in the ecotourism industry, every organization is vulnerable to corruption. It is highly unlikely that corruption will happen in the process of negotiating between the governments and the investors. Country-Specific Solution One of the reasons why ecotourism in countries has been difficult to prosper is because there cannot be a single resolution that is applicable to all nations. The country-specific nature of the ecotourism requires countries to design their own unique program that suit their available resources, this often is very expensive and requires a lot of time and effort, which once again is especially a burden for LEDCs. Travel Agencies Travel agencies, whether they are local or transnational, play vital roles in this issue. They are one of the most influential members of the cycle, as they connect the local and the tourists. Effective reforms or changes in policies can bring multiple benefits and contribute to eradication of poverty and protection of the local milieu. Importance United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) The United Nations World Tourism Organization is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. It promotes tourism as a driver of

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide. It also encourages the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism to maximize the contribution of tourism to socio-economic development, while minimizing its possible negative impacts, and is committed to promoting tourism as an instrument in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), geared towards reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development. The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) The International Ecotourism Society is a non-profit organization, which has dedicated itself to promoting ecotourism all around the world. The organization has played a major role in the development of ecotourism by assisting in both educational and technical ways.

Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue The remarkable support that the resolution has received, from all regions and across the development spectrum, is a clear testimony that sustainable tourism has a vital role to play in a fairer and sustainable future for all. In many developing countries, appropriate framework plans were formulated both regionally and transnationally. Communities and provincial level authorities enhanced awareness of ecotourism potential through workshops and trainings that resulted in increased capacities to implement community development plans including hospitality, quality services, development of supporting products and crafts and manage tourism development; tourism committees have established equitable benefit- sharing mechanisms and are coordinating infrastructural improvements. One of the reasons why ecotourism in countries has been difficult to achieve despite several resolutions have already passed is because there cannot be a single resolution that is applicable to all nations. The country-specific nature of the ecotourism requires countries to design their own unique program that suit their available resources. For example, China is one of the several successful case of ecotourism contributed to poverty alleviation. Some parts of Southern China were once relatively poor

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand regions because of their tough geological condition making it difficult for large investment from huge firms and factories. Yet by development of ecotourism, which maximized the uses of local tribes and natural resources, many provinces such as the Yunnan Province have already overcame the poverty. Possible Solutions The issue of ecotourism is difficult and complicated and has many possible solutions. The most relevant of them is about control: controlling the travel agencies claiming that they provide eco-touristic holidays while maybe, they dont. An internationally accepted definition of ecotourism should be implemented in order for a special organ (for example the UNWTO) to control companies on their claims and, for example, publicize a list of enterprises which do offer eco-touristic travelling and which do not. This way, people will have a trustworthy organ to fall back on and consult to. Trust will be regained and more people, who were before in doubt about the honesty of their travel agency, will participate in the ecotourism initiative. Another possible solution could be to create a nonprofit organization under the United Nations, which is going to arrange all official eco-touristic travels. As already explained in the general overview, the desire of profit plays a major role in deceiving customers with false labels as ecotourism and eco-friendly travels. If the organization, which organizes these travels, doesnt have making revenue as major goal but arranging qualitative travels according to the ecotourism definition, the situation will surely improve. This solution will also ensure that places are not visited too intensively, which can be harmful, as explained in the general overview. These two solutions create a different problem however: corruption. Companies will try to bribe the, in this example, UNWTO, which can undermine the major goal and therewith its effectiveness. Even the UN is not immune to corruption, as history has shown us. So, when deciding to aim at one of these two solutions, keep in mind that integrity and objectivity are very important. The last important part of ecotourism is promoting it. Besides that, there should be clarity about the intentions of companies and people should be aware of what ecotourism has to offer. How much better a holiday with breathtaking views or rare caves can be is often underestimated.

ECOSOC Notes New Zealand

Motivating tourists to understand and choose ecotourism requires not only education changes, spanning from school curricula to media coverage of environmentand ecotourism-related themes, but also regulations that make the disclosure of specific environmental information mandatory for public and private actors. For example, making accurate and timely global and regional information on climate and other environment-related issues available to the tourism industry helps operators and service providers adjust their business and investment plans and strategies. Establishing an objective and reliable certification mechanism to verify ecotourism and to distinguish it from similar marketing attempts (such as green washing) and providing economic incentives, such as tax credits, would considerably encourage investors confidence towards introducing and expanding ecotourism services. Designing, incentivizing and regulating to protect indigenous communities and the environment: If not well planned and regulated, ecotourism can threaten indigenous peoples sovereignty, which will bring about conflicts and tensions in their communities and threaten the delicate balance they have established with their surrounding natural environment. To prevent such undesirable impact, governments should guide ecotourism businesses (beginning in their planning stage), set guidelines and adjust existing legal frameworks to ensure that the industry takes a responsible approach. One country that follows this strategy is India, which has issued ecotourism guidelines: Indias ecotourism guidelines, issued by the Ministry of Tourism, include the following principles: Communities should be involved, leading to the overall economic development of an area; the likely conflicts between resource use for ecotourism and the livelihoods of local inhabitants should be identified and attempts made to minimize them; the type and scale of ecotourism development should be compatible with the environment and socio-cultural characteristics of the local community; ecotourism should be planned as a part of the overall area development strategy, guided by an integrated landuse plan that avoids inter-sector conflicts and ensures sectorial integration, associated with commensurate expansion of public services